Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades: Alcoa, Cigna, Intel, Molina, Teva, UnitedHealth and More

June 27, 2014 by Jon C. Ogg

Bull and BearStocks were looking to take a breather on Friday morning, but investors are still actively looking for ideas for a bull market or a stock picker’s markets. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each morning of the week, hunting for new research ideas for our readers. Some analyst calls are about stocks to buy, and some cover stocks to sell or to avoid.

These are this Friday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations from Wall Street firms.

Actavis PLC (NYSE: ACT) was started as Buy with a $275 price target at Canaccord Genuity.

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) was reiterated as Buy at Sterne Agee, but the firm raised its target to $18 from $15 (versus a $14.94 close) after the firm’s transformative acquisition of Firth Rixson.

American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE: AEO) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform and given a $17 price target (versus a $11.49 close) at FBR Capital Markets.

Analog Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: ADI) was started as Buy at Sterne Agee.

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Centene Corp. (NYSE: CNC) was started as Buy and given a $87 price target (versus a $74.27 close) at Sterne Agee.

Cigna Co. (NYSE: CI) was started with a Buy rating and given a $110 price target at Sterne Agee.

Colfax Corp. (NYSE: CFX) was started with a Buy rating at Goldman Sachs.

Endo International PLC (NASDAQ: ENDP) was started as Buy with an $83 price target at Canaccord Geunuity.

Flowserve Corp. (NYSE: FLS) was started with a Sell rating at Goldman Sachs.

Health Net Inc. (NYSE: HNT) was started with a Buy rating and given a $60 price target (versus a $40.39 close) at Sterne Agee. This is almost 50% implied upside and is based on it being the cheapest health plan in the industry relative to sustainable margin derived earnings per share in a post ACA world.

HollyFrontier Corp. (NYSE: HFC) was downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was raised to Market Perform from Underperform at Bernstein, which is just removing one of the last capitulation negative ratings after the company raised guidance and hit a decade high.

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Manitowoc Co. (NYSE: MTW) was raised to Hold from Underperform at Jefferies, but the stock was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital Markets.

Molina Healthcare Inc. (NYSE: MOH) was started with a Buy rating and was given a $69 price target (versus a $44.22 close) at Sterne Agee. This represents more than 50% implied upside and is based on shares not fully reflecting normalized earnings power,and the belief that investors receive post-2015 top-line growth for free.

Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: PCRX) was started with a Buy rating and given a $109 price target (versus a $88.50 close) at Canaccord Genuity.

Pentair PLC (NYSE: PNR) was started at Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (NASDAQ: SLXP) was started with a Buy rating and given a $145 price target (versus a $123.97 close) at Canaccord Genuity.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA) was started with a Hold rating at Canaccord Genuity.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) was started as Underperform and was given an $80 price target (versus a $81.89 close) at Sterne Agee.

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VeriSign Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Wells Fargo.

WellCare Health Plans Inc. (NYSE: WCG) was started with an Underperform rating and given a $76 price target (versus a $74.68 close) at Sterne Agee.

In case you missed Thursday’s analyst upgrades and downgrades, those included shares of Amazon, Facebook, Google, Netflix, Twitter, Disney, Yahoo! and many more.

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